When tablets came out four years ago most people thought: Oh my god, I don‘t need it, as with most every innovation. And you may argue you still don‘t but you can‘t deny that most of the people think different by now. Tablets are taking over the PC market and for most usage scenarios a tablet can replace a clunky desktop or laptop PC, it‘s much better in so many ways. They are fast enough now to handle all but the most demanding tasks and although you‘re still limited regarding multitasking and getting work done on a tablet I think it‘s only a question of time when tablets can replace a laptop for most people. I still couldn‘t give up a notebook for professional photo editing and blogging or writing in general and the physical keyboard of a laptop actually is hard to beat, but maybe dictating is replacing typing in the future anyway. And today programs like VSCO Cam for smartphones and tablets are wonderful for most photo sharing needs.

So, why do I love my tablet? I got an iPad mini as part of a business data contract, that gives me 10 GB of LTE data per month and I can use it wherever I am in Germany, be it on a job, while travelling or when blogging in the park in summer. I can use it as wifi hotspot and do all that with my mobile laptop. I chose an iPad instead of an Android device because I still think Apple has the better User Interface. I never really had problems software-wise with my Macs. I also like the 4:3 screen ratio. It‘s much more useful for both vertical and horizontal browsing, the 16:9 of most smartphones actually is terrible by comparison in my opinion, too slim in both orientations. 16:9 is great for videos, but I don‘t watch many videos on a tablet, so that‘s just me.

I LOVE the mini for its size. For me it‘s just perfect, big enough to really enjoy mobile computing, yet small enough to be held in your hand when walking the streets. A bigger device to me is too big to really go everywhere with it and makes you look like an idiot when navigating on the street. The mini is much lighter and just perfect to hold in one hand. I love Maps on the tablet as much as I do all the other incredible Apps that are much more fun to use than their counterparts on a notebook.

Notes is great and with iCloud it‘s just a dream to have everything everywhere, always instantly synced. You can just leave the house with the iPad and an article or an updated note on it you just wrote on your desktop PC. That's amazing. Same with Pages, the Word equivalent on Macs. Just write something in a document and rush out with your iPad without ever having to think about syncing.

Calender and Contacts are much nicer to look at on a tablet compared to a smartphone, automatically syncing with your Macs, too. Apps like facebook are great on an iPad and browsing/reading in general on a tablet I would say is the most perfect digital consumption experience of all available devices. For that actually the bigger iPad is even better, but you compromise on portability.

Photo sharing with apps like VSCO Cam is a joy on the go. I just plug in my SD card into the Lightning reader for iPad, import, edit and share in a heartbeat.

The tablet is so much nicer to share with people around. My HTC One XL with its relatively big 4,7“ screen looks just tiny by comparison. Having the iPad for a year now I hardly use my phone for anything more than making phone calls, listening to music and writing SMS. It‘s only replacing the iPad simply when I don‘t take the latter, for example to a club. The mini is so portable I have it in my bag all the time when I go out.

I love the iPad mini because as with most Apple products craftmanship is simply unbeaten, so is design in my eyes. It‘s just a joy to take in your hand and look on the gorgeous display.

I really LOVE the iPad for books. It‘s amazingly useful. I had all the Lonely Planet guide books on the mini on my last photo trip instead of lugging multiple paper books around, great.

Everything is better on an iPad compared to a smartphone apart from fitting into one‘s pocket or making phone calls. Latter being possible with Huawei‘s upcoming phablet, the Mediapad X1, a really great 7“ HD device with a nice 16:10 screen, recommended. A tablet can do most everything a computer can apart from having a nice physical keyboard and multitasking. There's just no comparison regarding portability, a tablet is just perfect here.

If you still think you don‘t need a tablet I have to agree, you don't but it‘s much nicer to have one ;-)

Update: If you have work to do and/or need to do it or other things fast, there's no comparison, the tablet just can't cut it. Typing on a MacBook Air for example is a dream compared to the virtual keyboard on the iPad, especially for blogging, writing letters, mails and longer posts.

Happy living ...

KIKI